Method of and means for recording and resulting products



Dec. 13, 1927.

H. A. KNAUSS METHOD DF AND MEANS RoR RECORDING AND RRsULTING PRODUCTS Filed April 14, 1923 Amx Am Patented Dec. 13, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY A. KNAUSS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT` AND MESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, OF ONE-TIIIRD TO EDWARD M. EVARTS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND

ONE-THIRD TO FRANK V. KNAUSS, OF P ORTSMOUTH, OHIO.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR RECORDING AND RESULTING PRODUCTS.

Application led April 14, 1923. Serial No. 633,698.

My present invention relates to methods of making records, whether of light.v sound or other character, or for printing or other purposes, and also to the means for making such records anchto the resulting products. It is an object of the present invention to devise methods and means of the general character `referred to by which I shall be enabled to prepare the resultingv products, in the form of light, sound o1" other records, or in the form of plates for printing or for any other desired purpose, in a simple, economical and very expeditious manner. In this Way I am enabled to ei'ect considera` le economies in time, labor and material which have hitherto been necessary for the fabrication of such records. While not limited thereto, my mvention finds particularly successful application in connection with the fabrication of masters and stampers for making sound records, particularly of the disk phonograph type, and in the fabrication of copper plates for half-tone or other printing purposes. The principles of the present invention may also be applied With considerable success for detecting and measuring fiaws in substances opaque to light.

ln the accompanying specification I shall describe several,illustrative embodiments of the method, means and resulting products of the presentinvention. It is, however, to be clearly understood that my invention is not limited .to the illustrative embodiments thereof herein shown and poses of illustration only.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein I have more or less diagrammatically illustrated one manner of carrying out one form of the method of the present invention, including also several types 0f means Which may be employed for this purpose and several embodiments of the resulting product, as applied more particularly to the fabrication of stampers for sound records preferably of the disk phonograph type;

Fig, 1 is a cross section of a radio-lucent wax master of the lateral cut type;

Fig. 2 is a cross section of the wax master shown in Fig. 1, with the groove or grooves thu-ein filled with a radio-opaque substance,

described for purin accordance with the ent invention;

Fig. 3 is a cross section of the radio-lucent Wax master shown in Fig. 2, With the radioopaque substance filling the groove or grooves thereof and with a protecting member applied thereto so as to protect and maintain the radio-opaque substance in place Within the groove or grooves of the wax master;

Fig. 4 is a cross section of the same after the thickness of the master has been substantially reduced for the purpose of the present invention;

Fig. 5 vis a diagrammatical view, partly in cross section and partly in elevation, showing one Way of using the Wax master shown in Figs. 3 or 4 for the production of a radiograph;

Flg. 6 1s a diograph ter shown principles of the presplan view of the resulting raobtained by using the ,wax masin Figs. l, 2, 3 and 4;

Fig. 7 is a cross section of a Wax master of the hill and dale type of groove; and

Fig. 8 is a plan view ofa. radiograph obtained b using the type of master illustrated in Fig. l

Before describing in detail the aforesaid illustrative embodiment of the present invention, it may be desirable briefly to point out the disadvantages inherent in the methods, means, and resulting products hitherto employed and obtained in the art to which.

the present invention relates. Taking, for example, the art of making masters or stampers for phonograph records, as of metal, such as copper, by the methods hitherto racticed, this being an example of one o the many fields to which the principles of the present invention are more particularly a plicable, it may be pointed out that in t e fabrication of such mastersl and stampers in accordance With the prior practice, the origmal Wax masters had first to be very carefully treated with a conducting substance, such as finely ground graphite or copper dust, to render the same conductive. Acopper mother was then made from the Wax master by electrodeposition, this being a very slow and tedious process consuming Cil many hours, due to the necessity of o eratlng at 10W temperatures and correspon ingly low current densities and low rates of depositioir of the copper, in order to prevent the wax master from being too highly heated, which would cause it to soften and lose its shape, and thus damage the accuracy of the lines of the record groove.

After the copper mother had been thus prepared, the same had to be sulphided, niels elized or given some other treatment, generally harmful to the accuracy of the record groove, in order to enable the same to receive a separable deposit of copper or other metal in the production of the copper or other metal masters.' From these copper or other metal masters, of which a number mightbe, and generally were, made, by the same laborious and tedious method already outlined for a production of a single one of such masters, a series of copper or other metal stampcrs would be made by treating the copper or other metal masters to sulphide, nickelize or otherwise act upon the same to enable them to receive a separable deposit or coating of copper or other metal. From these stampers the records of plastic material are then made.

When it is considered that in making records, a matter of a single days, or even several hours, delay is of great importance to enable the manufacturer of such records to place the same -on the market, if possible, in advance of the time when his competitors may place records of the same musical or other composition on the market, and when it is further considered that by the laborious methodsA hitherto employed days might elapse before a substantial quantity of completed records could be put on the market from the time the original recording in wax was made, it becomes readily apparent what important commercial and technical advantages would result from the discovery of new methods and means enabling the necessary stampers and resulting records to be made in a few hours rather than in a few avs.

Such desirable results are accomplished in a simple and ingenuous way by the method and means ot the present invention. which at the same time results in a much superior stamperx since the lines of the record groove are subject to less mutilation than results from the methods hitherto employed for making such stampers. In fact, the lines of the record groove of a stamper made in accordance with the principles of the present invention, in the illustrative example now being described, where the invention is applied for this particular purpose, out of the many uses to which it may be put, is hardly changed or altered in any way from the original form which it has in the wax master and is, 1n fact, a substantially identical reproduction or facimile of the record groove of the wax master. At the same time, by means of the present invention, I avoid the tedious and expensive delays and the laborious technique hitherto employed in the fabrication of stampers in accordance with the practice hitherto obtaining in this particular art. It may be seen that the picture usually appearing in the center of the ordinary type of sound record may be embodied in the original wax master and thus in the resulting stamper. In fact, pictures may be rccorded and transmitted in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention, as more fully described and claimed in another of my applications.

It is to be understood, of course` that similar advantages in technique and equivalent economies in time. labor and material are effected by the application of the principles of the present invention to the other arts where the saine may be employed with advantage, as in the production of molds and dies for plastic or other. materials, in the preparation and reproduction of half-tone or other printing plates, metal indices, name plates, etc., and'in any other of the arts where a reproducing surface is desired to be prepared.

Referring now to the aforesaid illustrative embodiments of the present invention which are herein shown and described merely tor the purpose of exemplifying a few ot the many` forms of applying the principles of the present invention, 10 indicates a wax master of the lateral cut disk type. such as is used in connection with the Victor and Columbia phonographs. The master 10 consists of a comparatively thick body of some radio-lucent material, such as phonograph recording wax, without the addition of aluminum or othermetal compounds` or of paraffin or beeswax of the proper quality and consistency. This material. while opaque to light, is translucent to X-rays. Such material, while being opaque to light, may in certain instances be lucent to lightl as well as lucent to X-rays.

The material 11, of which the wax master 10 is made, is opa ue to common light. but lucent to X-rays. referably the body portion 11 of which the waxniaster l() is made has depressed portions therein. In the particular example given.` these depressed portions are provided by the record groove i2 which, as already statecbis of the lateral cut type of groove, being substantially in the form of a spiral of uniform depth var ving to either side of the main spiral path, in accordance with the particular sounds or other impulses recorded and the amplitudes of the vibration of such sounds or other impulses.

I now apply to the upper or record surface of the wax mustervlO, a rad:o-opnrlia` substance, that is, a substance which will not permit the passage of X-rays or equivalent rays therethrough, unlike the material 11 of which the wax master is made, which is radio-lucent and thus readily permits the passage therethrough of X-rays. While various materials may be employed for this purpose, I prefer to use nely ground barium sulphate powder as being a material which is easy to obtain, is comparatively inexpensive, and serves the desired purpose admirably. I apply this material to the portions of the record body 11 which are of lesser thickness, as by applying such radioopaque substance to the depressed portions of such body. In the particular instance given herein by way of illustration, I fill the groove or grooves 12 of the record body 11 with the radio-opaque substance 13. The radio-opaque substance 13 should be applied to the groove or grooves 12 of the body 11 so as to substantially completely fill such grooves, so as to make the record body 1l of substantially the same total thickness atevery normal cross-section of the same all the way across its surface. Any excess of radioopaque substance resent on the top of the record surface of t e record body 11 may be removed in any suitable manner, thus leaving the groove or grooves 12 filled up4 to their upper edges, toa uniform depth, with no surp us radio opaque substance in the spaces between the grooves filled with such substance. It is, of course, apparent that vnumerous variations of this method of manipulation may lloezemployed with success, while still utilizing the principles of the present invention. For example, I may place a seal upon the recordgroove and .inject a radio-opaque substance in paste form, into the sealed spiral groove.

In order to protect the grooves containing the radio-opaque substance, I provide means for rotecting said radio opaque-substance. Pre erably such protecting means is in the form of a protecting shield or other plate 14, which may be made of thin wax, applied in sheet, film, or plastic form this wax being radio-lucent so as to interfere as little as possible with the passage therethrough of the X-rays or equivalent rays used subsequently in the resent process. The plate or other protectlng shield 14 is applied directly over the record surface of the body 11 and serves to keep the radio-opaque substance 13 firmly packed in the groove or grooves 12 so that the same cannot be dislodged from such groove or Grooves in the subsequent manipulations of tie body 11 in accordance with the methodof the present invention. The protecting plate or shield 14 may, for this purpose, be securely cemented or sealed into place by a suitable adhesive applied at the periphery thereof, such adhesive being indicated by reference character 14', or in any other suitable and convenient manner.

In order to enable the more convenient and certain application of the principles of the present invention, I prefer to reduce the thickness of the body of radio-lucent matcrial 11 to a minimum, without endangering the retention and preservation of the accuracy of the record groove 12. For this purpose I may shave ofi' a substantial portion of the body 11 from the under side thereof by inverting the body 11 containing the radio-opaque substance 13 in the groove or grooves 12 thereof, this manipulation being feasible as a result of the provision of the protecting shield or plate 14 which retains the radio-lucent material in place in the groove or grooves 12. Any suitable shaving machine, such as those customarily employed in the art at the present time for similar purposes, may then be used for the purpose of removing excess material from the bottom of the record body 11.

I now'proceed to prepare a radiograph, that is, a radiographic or X-ray negative,

preferably in film form, of the record groove 12. The purpose of this is to obtain, by the use of X-rays or equivalent rays directly permeating or penetrating the radio-lucent body 11,which body, as already described,

is opaque to ordinary light and which is.

now preferably of reduced thickness, and the radio-lucent film orplate 14, and particularly those'portionsof the radio-lucent bodies 11 and 14 which lie between the groove or grooves 12 filled with radioopaque material 13, a radiograph or radiographic line radiograph, such as a film negative or radiograph, or accurate radiographic record or picture of the groove or grooves 12. This desirable and highly novel result followsl from the fact that the groove or grooves 12 have been accurately filled up to the edges of such groove or grooves with the radio-opaque material 18. There is, accordingly,'produced on the X-ray plate or film 15, a line radiograph of the groove or grooves 12 which, in the particular instance now being described, is in the Vform of a laterally fiuctuating spiral pathl on thc late or film 15, as shown more clearly in ig. 6 of the drawing. .As a source of X-rays, I may use any desirable type of X-ray or other vacuum tube 17, or any emanations having the power of penetrating objects opaque to ordinary light, such as the various emanations, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing. The copper emulsion may be directly exposed to X-rays, as through the wax master.

From the radiograph or radiographic linc negative or other negative obtained as above lll) set forth, I prepare a copper or zinc etching film or radiograph is developed and Xed in the usual manuel', which gives a clear black and White spiral negative or picture of the groove in the original sound record. This negative may then be' placed directly over a wet plate and the wet plate in turn transferred to the sensitized copper which is exposed to any desirable and suitable source of light, or to ultra-violet light, and is then etched in accordance with the procedure well known to those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates.

The resulting copper etching, depending on whether it is a positive or negative, the former yielding a depressed groove and the latter an elevated groove or ridge, may be directly used as a sound record and played, for which purpose the tone arm may be moved over the record surface by any suitable lathe mechanism, preferably the same lathe mechanism, or an equivalent mechanism synchronized with and similar to the lathe mechanism, which cut the sound groove in the original wax master.l If desired, however, this copper record may be nickelized vand copper stampers prepared from the same, which may be done in a very short While, all as well known to those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates. These stampers may then be used for making the usual sound records of composition, in the manner now commonly employed for this purpose.

The advantages of the foregoing embodiments of the method and means of the present invention are numerous and of great practical importance. By means of the present invention, the whole process of making the original copper etched record, including the steps of filling in the grooves in the wax master, applying the protecting covering to the same, shaving the bottom of the wax master down to the desired thickness, mounting the master so prepared on the X-ray film in its lightproof envelope, exposing the master to the X-rays, developing and fixing the resulting X-ray negative, and finally preparing the copper etching from the radiograph or X-ray negative, need not take over a halt` an hour, and may be done automatically, in one machine, as compared with the very considerable length of time, amounting often to twenty-four hours, or longer, hitherto needed for producing a copper mother from which stampers might be made in accordance with the practice hitherto prevailing in the art to which the present invention relates.

The copper` record made in accordance with the process and employing the means of the present invention is much more accurate than the copper mother resulting from the methods hitherto employed for producing the same. Since the radiograph or X-ray negative or equivalent radiograph of the groove in the wax master is an absolutely accurate black and white picture of such groove and may, by obvious expedients, be indefinitely absolutely accurately reproduced, enlarged or diminished, any desired number of copper etched records or their equivalents may be made, all of equally absolute accuracy. .From these any number of copper masters may quickly be produced, thus enabling the production of composition or similar moulded records to be made from such stampers with a remarkable saving of time, labor and material.

1n Figs. 7 and 8 ot the drawing l have more or less diagrammatically indicated the application of the principles of the present invention to a wax master of the hill and dale type of groove, the master being indicated by reference character 100 and consisting of radio-lucent material 101 having in the upper surface thereof a groove 102 of the hill and dale ty e which is of a substantially true spiral orm, of substantially uniform width, but ot varying depth, as clearly indicated in Fig. 7 of the drawing. The resultin copper etched record is indicated by re erence character 103, as more clearly shown in Fig. 8 of the drawing. This record may be prepared in the manner described in the previous portions of this specification for the production of the lateral out type of record. The advantages of the application of the method and means of the present invention to the production of the record 103 of the hill and dale ty e are the same as those set forth above for t e lateral out type of record and need not therefore be further enlarged upon here.

It may here be stated that the term depression, or its equivalent, as used in the pecification and claims, is intended also to esignate, wherever such meanings are acceptable, cavities or hollows, whether o en to the exterior or entirely closed or sea ed,

such, for example, as tooth cavities or air bubbles or other hollows or iiaws in gems, metals and the like. It may also be stated here that the term record, as used in the specification and claims, is intended also to designate, wherever such a meaning is acceptable, records of the vibrations, pulsations or impulses of light, electricity, heat or other form or forms of energy, as well as of sound.

What I claim is:

-1. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a record body with a record surface corresponding to varying wave impulses, and thereafter applying a radio-opaque substance to such record surface.

2. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a radio-lucent record body with a record surface corresponding to varying wave impulses,

cof

Leganes and thereafter applying a radio-opaque sub- Stance to such record surface.

3. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a record body with a record groove corresponding to varying Wave impulses, and thereafter applying a radio-opaque substance to such record groove.

4.-. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a radio-lucent record body With a record groove corresponding to varying Wave impulses, and thereafter applying a radioopaque substance to such record groove.

5. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a radio-lucent record body with a record surface corresponding to varying sound Wave impulses, and thereafter applying a radioopaque substance to such record surface.

6. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a record body with a record surface corresponding to varying sound Wave impulses, and thereafter applying a radio-opaque substance to such record surface.

`7. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a radio-lucent record body with a record groove corresponding to varying sound wave impulses, and thereafter applying a radioopaque substance to such record groove.

8. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a record body with a record groove corresponding to varying sound Wave impulses, and thereafter applying a radio-opaque substance to such record groove.

9. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing .a radio-lucent record body with a record groove corresponding to varying sound Wave impulses, applying a radio-opaque substance to such record groove, and thereafter obtaining a radiograph of said body by means of X-rays.

10. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a radio-lucent record body With a record surace corresponding to varying sound Wave impulses, applyinv a radio-opaque substance to such record sur ace, and thereafter obtaining a radiograph of said body by means of X-rays.

11. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a record body With a record groove corresponding to varying Wave impulses, applying a ra io-opaque substance to such record groove, and thereafter obtaining a radiograph of said body by means of X-rays.

12. The methodv of producing a record,

Which comprises the steps of providing a record body with a record surface corresponding to varying wave impulses, applying a radio-opaque substance to such record surface, and thereafter obtaining a radiograph of said body by means of X-rays.

13. The method of producing a record, Which comprises the steps of providing'a record body With arecord groove corresponding to varying sound Wave impulses, applying a radio-opaque substance to such record groove, and thereafter obtaining a radiograph of said body by means of X-rays.

14. The method of producing a record, Which comprises the steps of providing a record body with a record surface corresponding to varying sound Wave impulses, applying a radio-opaque substance to such record surface, and thereafter obtaining a radiograph of said body by means of X-rays.

'15. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a radio-lucent record body with a record groove corresponding to varying wave impulses, applying a radio-opaque substance to such record groove, and thereafter obtaining Aa radiograph of said body by means of X-rays.

16. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of providing a radio-lucent record body with a record surface corresponding to varying Wave impulses, applying a radio-opaque substance to such record surface, and thereafter obtaining a radiograph of sai-d body by means of X-rays.

17. The method of producing a record, Which comprises the steps of apfplying a radio-opaque substance to the sur ace of a radio-lucent body of varying surface characteristics, corresponding to varying Wave impulses obtaining a radiographic line negative of said body by means of X-rays, and thereafter preparing a body having a reproducing surface from said line negative.

18. The method of producing a record which comprises the steps of applying a radio-opaque substanceA to the surface of a radio-lucent record body having depressed portions therein, corresponding to varying Wave impulses obtaining a radiographic line negative of said body by means of X-rays, and thereafter reparing a body having a reproducing sur ace from said line negative.

19. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of applying a radio-opaque substance to the surface of the portions of lesser thickness of a radio-lucent body of varying thickness, corresponding to varying Wave impulses obtaining a radiographic line negative of said body by means of X-rays, and thereafter preparing a body having a reproducing surface from said' line negative.

20. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of applying a radio-opaque substance to' the groove or grooves of a radio-lucent record body having one or more grooves therein, corresponding to varying Wave impulses obtainin a radiographic line negative of said body y means of X-rays, and thereafter preparing a body having a reproducing surface from said line negative.

21. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of applying a radio-opaque substance to the surface of a radio-lucent body of varying thickness, corresponding to varying Wave impulses, cans-- ing X-rays to penetrate the body so treated to obtain a radiographic line negative of the same, and thereafter preparin a body having a metallic reproducing sur ace from said line negative.

22. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of appl ing a radio-opaque substance to the sur ace or interior of the depressed portions of a radiolucent body of varying surface characteristics, corresponding to varying Wave iinpulses causing X-rays to penetrate the body so treated to obtain a radiographic line negative of the same, and thereafter preparing a body having a metallic reproducing surface from said line negative.

23. The method of producing a record, which comprises the steps of applying a radio-opaque substance to the surface or interior of the depressed portions of a radiolucent record body having depressed portions therein, corresponding to varying Wave impulses causing X-rays to penetrate the body so treated to obtain a radio aphic line negative of the same, andthereaigtrer preparing a body havin a metallic reproducing surface from said line negative. 'y

24. The method of producing a record, which comprises' the steps of filling the groove or grooves of a radio-lucent record body having one or more grooves therein with a radio-opaque substance, corres onding to varyi'no' way'e impulses causing -rays to enetrate die bodyso treated to obtain a ra iographic line negative of the same, and thereafter preparing a body having a metali'c reproducing surface from said line negaive. l

25. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent body of varying surface characteristics corresponding to varying Wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance applied thereto.

26. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent body of varying thickness corresponding to varying wave impulses and having a radio- -opaque substance applied thereto.

27.,Mean`s for preparing records by thc use of X-rays comprising a radio-lucent body having depressed portions therein corresponding to varying wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance applied thereto.

28. Means for preparing records by use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent body of varying surface characteristics corresponding to varying Wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance applied to the poi'- tions of lesser thickness.

29. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent body of varying thickness corresponding to varying Wave impulses and having a radioopaque substance applied to the portions of lesser thickness.

30. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent body having depressed portions ltherein corresponding to varying wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance applied to the depressed portions thereof.

3l. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays comprising a radio-lucent grooved body corresponding to varying wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance in the groove or grooves thereof.

32. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent grooved body corresponding to varying Wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance in the groove or grooves thereof, in combination with means or protecting said radio-opaque substance.

33. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent body having depressed portions therein corresponding to varying Wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance applied to the depressed portions thereof, in combination with means for protecting said radioopaque substance.

34. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, com rising a radio-lucent body of varying thic mess corresponding to varying wave impulses and having a radioopaque substance applied to the portions of lesser thickness, in combination with means for protecting said radio-opaque substance.

V 35. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent body having depressed portions therein corresponding to varying Wave impulses and having a 'radio-opaque substance applied thereto, in combination with a protecting shield for said radio-opaque substance.

36. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucent body of varying surface characteristics corresponding to varying Wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance applied to the portions of lesser thickness, in combination with a protecting shield for said radioopaque substance.

37. Means for preparing records by the use of X-rays, comprising a radio-lucentbody of varying surface characteristics corresponding to varying Wave impulses and having a radio-opaque substance applied thereto, in combination with means for reopaque substance applied thereto, in combitainin said radio-opaque substance in place .nation with means for retaining said radioon sai body. opaque substance in place onsald body. l0 38. Means for preparing records by the In testimony, whereof, I have signed my 5 use of X-rays, comprising a radio-1ucent name to this specification this 30th day of body of varying thickness corresponding to March, 1923. varying wave'mpulses and having a radioy HARRYiL KNAUSS. 

